Socio-political features shaping the mathematics teaching and professional identities of muslim minority teachers in Western Thrace

The importance of mathematics education in preparing students to become successful citizens raises continuous challenges for schools and educational systems, especially in minoritized settings. Research has identified practices and structures in the social and educational context that do not equally support all students’ learning and all teachers’ teaching and learning to teach. The study presented here employs a cultural-historical activity theory perspective to identify micro and macro practices and structures that challenge Muslim teachers’ mathematics teaching and their professional development in Western Thrace, Greece. The data exploited in the study, which is part of a larger project on Muslim students’ learning, were generated through interviews with in-service minority teachers. The results highlight micro and macro socio-political formations that interact to activate minoritization processes. These shape the practice of teaching mathematics as well as individual and collective identities connected to learning and teaching mathematics.